Out Where the Demons Are
by Gatewriter
Summary: Sg-1 gets accidently transported...somewhere...and they soon find that they're not alone.
1. Teaser

Disclaimer: The SGC and characters are not mine. Although their on my Christmas list.

Summary: Sg-1 gets accidently transported...somewhere...and they soon find that they're not alone.

Warnings/ Spoilers: None, really. Just a bit of action! K+ to be on the safe side.

When: Season three.

Notes: ummm...review! Please let me know where I need to improve, and where I'm good! What you did like, and what you didn't. It'll help me a ton! Thanks, and enjoy!

Out Where the Demons Are: Teaser

_Crouching down low to the ground, Carter hoped that she hadn't been spotted. It seemed that she waited for an eternity, but yet the three didn't move. They just snorted and growled, and occasionally-_

_The biggest froze. Baring its teeth at Sam, it roared. And ran straight for her._

_Carter didn't wait to see if the other two followed. She just sprinted as fast as her wobbly legs could carry her. She headed for the treeline; it had the best chances for cover. Sounds whirled around her; roaring, large trampling feet, the occasional breaking twigs beneath her, and strangely, loudest was her own sharp breaths hissing between her teeth on the inhale and gasping on the exhale. _

_They followed her for so long, that Sam started becoming light-headed, and the muddled feeling returned in force. _

_The ground blended with the sky and rainbow colored trees swirled around her. She hadn't realized that she'd already run into the forest._

_The growling behind her grew ever louder, and soon it wasn't just twigs snapping, but huge branches and a few trunks here and there. Sam ran ever faster._

_The beasts had yet to grow tired, but cold sweat poured down Carter's back, soaking her clothes and dripping into the soles of her shoes. Deep, ripping gasps tugged at Sam's lungs, making her sides burn hot._

_Somehow, survival instincts crashed through the thick barriers of semi-lucidity. Quickly, she tried evasion tactics, zooming left and right, never running once in a straight line. Desperately, she tried to lose her attackers, looking and praying for a way out of the mess she had so completely tangled herself in._

_But, it seemed, no gods at all were listening to her pleas, and maybe, that Sg-1 luck had finally seen the ends of its days._

_Maybe this was the end of her days._

_Sam slowed, just a little bit, but enough that the enemy gained precious inches. That was enough to spur Carter on again, for a while. But it wouldn't be enough. They were still coming, steadily gaining ground. She wondered how she could still be upright._

_She no longer could hear wood snapping, or growling, just blood pounding at top decibels in her ears. Her feet had grown numb to the forest floor beneath her, to the slopes and rises of the earth. Detached, her mind wandered near incoherently, but the mantra of '_run, Sam, run' _echoed loudly between Carter's red ears._

_And then, time stopped, and twilight turned to a deeply dark, starless night sky. Rough ground was suddenly a soft pillow, and Sam had no objections to sleep._

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Please tell me what you think! More chapters should be up soon!

tbc!


	2. Missing

Out Where the Demons Are

Chapter 1: Missing

0o0o0o0o0o

Colonel Jack O'Neill stepped through the Stargate on PC4-3472 and took his sunglasses off. Then resting his hands on his P-90, he scanned the surroundings. This planet seemed to have a deep resemblance to the dry forests of Africa he had always seen on TV and in photos. The trees spanned out at the top and the floor was covered in thick green foliage, which the Colonel immediately knew he wasn't going to like navigating through. At a slurping sound behind him, Jack turned around to see the rest of Sg-1 walking through the gate. Jack put on a phony smile, "Look guys! Trees!"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "There are indeed many trees, O'Neill."

"Yeah, Dr. Sumners on Sg-7 said that the ruins in the forest are actually grown into the trees somehow, "Daniel grinned with excitement.

The Colonel groaned. "We _know _Daniel; you've told us, like, five times."

"I believe there have been seven separate times where we have been made aware of this unique fact, Daniel Jackson."

When Daniel started floundering indignantly for words, Sam stepped in. "The ruins should be about four klicks south east of our current position."

"Do we have to go?" The Colonel whined dramatically, even as the team started walking in the direction Carter had pointed.

"Yes, sir. It's the whole reason we came to the planet. That and the weird energy readings Sg-7 kept picking up. They think there might be technology left behind from the people that used to inhabit this planet. But they didn't find anything in the way of hi-tech when they were here, interestingly." After a moment, the Major realised she was rambling and stopped talking. Daniel, seeing quickly that Sam was the only other person even remotely interested in the mission, scurried over to talk more in depth about the ruins.

"Ya' know, you think if a people were advanced enough to have the architecture they did, technology would be more prominent, "Daniel started.

Carter threw up a hand. "Exactly!"

The Colonel scoffed, "Geeks."

Daniel looked up. "We prefer 'nerds', actually." Sam nodded matter-of-factly.

"Unbelievable." The Colonel rolled eyes incredulously. After that, since no one had anything more to add, the team fell into a comfortable silence.

Suddenly, the forest opened up into a large clearing. On the other side, little structures seemed deeply nestled into the tall trees. They were very ornate; the details and writing on their walls could be seen from across the way easily. In the middle was the largest building, it was at least forty or so feet tall, and the most outstanding of the ruins. Daniel quickened his pace to the center building, which looked be some kind of temple, and the rest of the team followed.

"Would you look at this writing?" Jackson fingered the writing delicately, "It seems Ancient! Maybe an offshoot of the language, yeah, but this is most definitely Ancient."

Sam went to stand beside Daniel. "Really?" At her friend's excited nod, she continued. "Well then maybe Sg-7 just didn't see anything, because there has to be some advanced equipment around here somewhere." Carter took of her pack and unzipped it. Taking out one of her many devices she checked the screen. "Yeah, the energy readings are definitely stronger here."

Meanwhile, the Colonel and Teal'c checked out the inside of the temple. Seeing that it was fairly dark, they flipped their P-90's flashlights on. In the middle, there was a large, roughly made altar. Dubbing it unimportant, O'Neill walked over to the far wall and scanned it from top to bottom. In the middle, there were several large words in another language, which Jack assumed was Ancient. "Hey, T?" The Colonel looked around for his friend.

Teal'c came from out of the shadows. "I am here, O'Neill. What is your need?"

Jack pointed a thumb to the writing on the wall, "Do you know what that says?"

"I do not, O'Neill. Should I fetch Daniel Jackson?"

"Yeah, this looks kinda important."

Teal'c did his signature sideways nod and went to get the team's linguist.

"What?" Daniel stepped through the door and looked for his teammate. "Where's the writing?"

The Colonel nodded to the wall he was by. "Over here, Danny-boy."

Jackson quickly traversed the short distance to O'Neill and fingered the large writing. Almost immediately, his forehead wrinkled. "Umm, if this says what I think it says..."

"Spit it out, Daniel, "Jack prompted bluntly.

"I think it's a warning of some sort, "Daniel bit his lip in concentration and pulled the notebook from his back pocket. "I'm pretty sure this is the Ancient equivalent to a 'no trespassers' sign. Umm, this part says; 'Those who come forth', and down here I think it's something like 'risk' or 'forfit'. " Then the archaeologist stepped back and crossed his arms, "Huh."

The Colonel rolled his eyes impatiently. "What?"

Jackson waved a hand towards the inscription, "It's just, this part seems kinda out of place...I think it says 'out where the demons are'. I suppose it could mean that if you 'come forth' you 'risk' going 'out where the demons are'...but..."Daniel crossed his arms again. "No, that can't be right."

Jack made an irritated motion with his hands. "What, Daniel?"

"From what we've found, the Ancients were a passive race. Sure, they were involved in several wars, but only in the case of extreme self-defense. So, they wouldn't threaten someone to go out where 'demons' were, especially not in a temple. Definitely not in a temple." Daniel bit his lip in concentration, and turned around. "No. Either my translations are off, or something else is."

The Colonel grimaced. He knew that Daniel's translations were spot on, which meant something was wrong. He felt a knot already forming in the pit of his stomach.

Teal'c, who had until then remained silent, nodded. "Do you believe that this inscriptions could have something to do with the energy emissions that Major Carter has been finding, Daniel Jackson?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows as if he hadn't thought of that before. Which he probably hadn't. "That's very possible, Teal'c."

Jack looked around, "Hey, where is Carter?"

Daniel shrugged, "Umm, I think she's still outside."

Immediately, the Colonel made to go outside again, feeling something off. He put his hands warily on his P-90, and he heard T and Daniel follow him into the fading sunlight. Jack looked around the site and sighed, he lifted a hand to his walkie talkie and pressed the button to talk. "Carter, come in." He waited a moment for an answer, the knot in his stomach growing steadily bigger, and then tried again. "Carter. Come in."

His talkie fuzzed. _"Here, sir." _The three men let out the breath they didn't know they were holding and O'Neill pressed down on the button again. "Carter, head back to the temple. "He paused, wanting to say several things at once. Quickly, he chose the reprimand. "Ya' know you really shouldn't be out there alone, Major. What are you doing?"

There was a pause at the other end and then; _"Sorry, sir. I was following the energy readings, guess I went a little farther than I thought. They keep getting higher..."_

"We'll check it out later, Carter. Report back to the temple."

A longer pause told the male members of Sg-1 that Sam knew something was amiss. _"What's wrong?"_

O'Neill sighed, "There's some writing in the temple that's got me a little worried, Carter. How far out are you?"

_"Uh, I think about half a klick."_

"Half a klick? Carter!"

_"Sorry, sir. But I think I'm really close to whatever's causing these readings, "_ Sam sounded almost sheepish.

"Not caring, Carter. Get your butt back here, now. That's an order."

There was another pause. _"Please, sir? There's a small building over here, and I think whatever is causing these readings, is in it. I'm just gonna take a quick look."_

''No. Get-"

_"Wow, sir, I wish you could see this! There's this big...I dunno, it looks kind of like a-" _Sam stopped abruptly.

"Carter?" O'Neill swore under his breath. "Carter?" There wasn't an answer. He turned to Daniel and Teal'c, "Get your stuff, we're going to go find her." When the two didn't move, the Colonel groaned. He knew the lack of movement was their way of telling him that they needed to go back to the SGC for a search team, but he thought it was too soon. "Look. All we have to do is follow the energy readings to where she is."

"We are not in pocession of such a device, O'Neill. The only one is with Major Carter."

At that, Daniel perked up. "I have one."

"Why in the world would you have one, Daniel?" The Colonel turned to the doctor, surprised.

"It helps find ruins that are underground, and the like, "he explained automatically, already in his pack fishing for the equipment. "Now, Sam said the readings were stronger closer to the ruins than to the gate, which means if we keep going in the same direction, we should, in theory, find Sam." He walked around for a moment, using the device like a compass. Then he pointed behind the ruins and to the left a little. "That way."

Jack nodded. "Let's go, campers." After picking up their packs, the trio were off. The trip was fairly silent, except for the Colonel sporadically trying to reach the Major, and Daniel mumbling in concentration. Teal'c didn't say anything, as usual, but the slight tense to his shoulders told the team that he was apprehensive, too.

"Wow, these scans are really high, "Daniel observed suddenly.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow and pointed to the right of the doctor. "There." Sure enough, there was a small windowless building hugging a large tree about thirty feet away. Daniel would have missed it, were it not for Teal'c's sensitive eyes and his device; it blended extremely well with the surroundings. Behind him, the Colonel tensed and pulled his gun. Whatever was in that room was the reason for Carter's ceased communications. The three walked forward and scanned the outside of the ruin.

"Hey, Daniel,"O'Neill broke the heavy silence from beside the doorway. "This looks a lot like what was in the temple."

Jackson appeared behind Jack and nodded. "Yeah, here's 'out were the demons are' again, but it's repeated twice. I think that's the same as you, say, bolding or underlining something..."

O'Neill squared his shoulders. "Alright, I'll go in first, then T, then you, Daniel." If Daniel took offense at going last he didn't show it. The Colonel pulled his gun again and stepped warily inside. After scanning the empty interior, he motioned for the other two to come in.

Daniel deflated. "There's no one in here." Bending down, he deftly touched a footprint in the dirt. "But Sam was." He stood up and stepped back, as if for the first time noticing the large consol in front of him. The main cylinder in the center stood approximately three feet high, and it had...veins for lack of a better word that spider-webbed out to the ceiling and floor.

The Colonel lifted his chin. "Wow, that looks Ancient."

Jackson nodded. "It is."

Daniel went to touch it, and Jack acting on instinct went to pull him back. But just as Daniel's fingers brushed the surface, the Colonel's hand landed on his friend's shoulder. The two froze and their eyes widened simultaneously, knowing immediately that something was wrong. Then a bright light enveloped them and Teal'c was left alone in the room.

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tbc! hope you liked it!


	3. Abnormal

Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Abnormal

o0o0o0o0o0o

Something was pecking at Sam's nose. Instinctively, she tried to swat whatever it was off her face, irritated that anything had the nerve to disturb her sleep. But the thing felt rather large and it wouldn't go away. Suddenly, she remembered that she shouldn't be sleeping, that Sg-1 were on a mission. What was she doing laying down then? Was it night? Had she been injured or fallen unconscious? An imaged flashed behind her still closed eyelids, and she thought of the Ancient device she had found. Was that what has caused her confusion? Her thoughts were again interrupted by an insistent pecking on her nose, this time at a quicker tempo. "Fine," she mumbled. "I'm up, I'm up." She got up on her elbows and opened her eyes. And there staring her in the face, was a bird-like creature that stood probably two feet tall. Gasping, Carter rolled over and stood up, pulling her P-90 protectively in front of her. The bird just tilted his head innocently and flapped its oddly shaped wings until it had taken off brokenly to the green tinted sky.

_Where am I? _Sam wondered. She certainly wasn't in the small room containing the Ancient console. She didn't even know if she was on the same planet. No, she probably wasn't, because this place seemed so much different, so very abstract with its odd colored sky, weird animals, and the trees here were very...random; they were bent out of normal shapes and twisted. Their trunks were extremely unusual colors, too, ranging from the normal brown to a stunning burgundy to neon orange to a vibrant pink. The world itself seemed enveloped in an unusual fog that wasn't necessarily unpleasant, but slightly unsettling none the less. Sam scoffed when she realized the whole place looked like a page right out of a Dr. Seuss book. Things were very odd here, indeed.

Remembering that things has gone awry when she touched the equipment, against the direct order of her CO, (she was going to be in trouble for that later) Sam looked around for an obvious way back, but she didn't see one. The Major huffed. She had a feeling she was in this for the long haul.

Inconveniently, Sam had left her pack back with the Ancient console. That meant she didn't have anything in the way of an energy scanner to possibly find another device to get back to the rest of the team. Also, survival supplies were out if she was stranded for any significant period of time.

Walking around, Carter started looking more in depth for another console or a controller of some sort. After being sure there was nothing in the immediate vicinity, she started hiking through the trees, looking for anything out of the ordinary. The fog seemed to be lifting, which was a good thing, however, the sun was slowly setting. Sam really didn't want to be caught in the dark without shelter, or a fire of some sort. Immediately, she wondered how the odd wood would burn. Touching the bark of a nearby tree, Sam thought it felt something akin to hard velvet. _Won't be burning that tonight,_ Sam thought.

After hiking for probably another hour, Carter realized that the the greenish sky was turning to a more normal dusk color. And while night seemed to come slowly to this planet, the sun would be completely gone before long. Sam's need to find a place to camp was now the priority. And, just as the last sliver of the sun behind her sank down below the planet, Sam noticed the trees start to thin, and the forest opened up to a clearing. She leaned up against an tree on the edge of the open area and fell into a light sleep, deciding she would wake up in half hour intervals.

The fourth time Carter woke up to check her surroundings, it was the dead of night, and the erie fog was back. The temperature had also dropped dramatically, making her shiver. Sam noticed something different and she sat up and looked around. She couldn't put her finger on it, but Sam had a gut feeling that she shouldn't go back to sleep. Standing up, she brushed the dirt off her pants and scanned the area again, still not seeing anything obvious. But if Sam knew anything, it was to trust her instincts.

And then she felt it. A soft rumbling beneath her feet was growing slowly, but surely. Sam's first thought was an earthquake, or there were lots of very large animals running that she didn't know about. Curiously, the ground beneath her groaned and Sam tried to move, but the growing rumbling was quickly making it difficult for her to even stay standing, let alone try to get away from it. A couple trees around her started collapsing and cracks started forming in the ground. The cracks became bigger, as the shaking still increased. Then, the cracks parted a few feet away from Carter and finally the rumbling became too much and Sam fell...right through the ground.

0o0o0o0o0o

Jack groaned. He could tell he was on the ground, which was not a place he was known to be fond of. His back was aching, too, which meant he had probably been here awhile. After a moment, he remembered that Daniel had touched the dang Ancient thing. You would think someone with so many degrees would learn not to touch strange objects without safety equipment or a poker stick...or something. When he opened his eyes, though, he forgot about the ever curious Daniel. For now. Because the Colonel was definitely not in that little shack they were in five minutes ago. The sky was green and the trees were weird, which, to O'Neill, said that he probably wasn't even on the same planet anymore. He stood up and turned to see Daniel laying knocked out on the ground behind him. Walking over to him, he shook his shoulder. "Psst. Daniel. Wakie wakie."

Suddenly, the linguist shot up from the ground and opened his eyes. "I'm up. What's wrong?" After fishing out his glasses from his pocket, Daniel shoved them onto his face. Only to see a relaxed, smirking Jack looking down at him.

"Relax, Daniel. No one's on fire, "The Colonel said smugly.

Jackson narrowed his eyes indignantly. Then, realizing his surroundings, he stood up.

"We're not in Kansas anymore, are we Danny-boy?" Jack scoped the area again lazily and put his hands on top of his gun. Looking once more at the odd colored sky, he sighed. "Nope. Definitely not."

"Huh. Guess the device was some sort of transportation mechanism..." Jackson spotted a tree that was a very particular color of pink and pushed his glasses higher on his nose. "Is that...?"

The Colonel bounced his head once. "Yup."

Daniel's eyebrows furrowed in concentration. " Well then. This is different." And then, realizing something was missing, he looked around again. "Where's Sam? Wouldn't she be here, too?"

"It's been a little while. I bet Carter just went off to look for food or something. She would have to; she left her pack with the device."

"It's only been an hour or so, hasn't it?"

Jack shrugged. "Yeah, I'd say so. But I'm not too worried. Yet. She'll show up eventually."

"So, what? We just wait here?"

"No." The Colonel looked up. "I think it's getting dark, and my watch says it's about eight. So we should look for a place to set up camp."

Jackson nodded, and the two started walking towards the lowering sun. When Jack's clock said it was around eleven, it was almost completely dark. The Colonel stopped walking when he came across a sudden, very large, clearing. It was difficult to see all the way around and to the other side of it, because of the darkness. Still, the Colonel judged it for a good place to set up camp and he pulled off his pack.

After a short while, O'Neill had set up the tent from his pack and settled down. On the way to his sleeping bag, he turned to Daniel. "Hey, you got first watch."

Daniel scoffed. "Yeah, thanks."

Jack was already in his sleeping bag. "Wake me up in three."

"Will do." Jackson sighed and sat down, leaning up against a tree. With nothing much to occupy him in the darkness, his thoughts turned to the writings they had found in the temple and by the device. The fact that anyone even affiliated with the Ancients were wanting to send someone 'out where the demons were' was not only odd, but against their most basic morals and laws. What possibly could drive them to do something so drastic? A common saying automatically came to mind; _drastic times call for drastic measures_. Were the circumstances so out of the ordinary? Or did it have to do with one of the wars the Ancients had been in? The ruins did seem not the average Ancient style. Maybe these were from when they were still a relatively young race and their morals were different. There were just too many variables to decide yet. Daniel would just have to wait and see what else came up. He hated waiting like that though, because you never knew when the right info would come up. Or if it would ever come at all.

Jackson looked at his watch and was surprised when he saw that almost two hours had passed. Looking out into the darkness, Daniel suddenly felt the chill that had probably been there since the sun had fully gone down. He shivered and pulled his knees up into a loose ball, and hoped the next hour went by quickly.

Then he heard it. A distant rumbling. Quickly attributing it to an earthquake, he scooted over to the tent and shook the lumpy sleeping bag inside of it. "Jack. Jack. Wake up."

Instantly, Colonel O'Neill was awake. "What's-" Then he felt it, too. "Is that...an earthquake?"

"Think so. Might want to get out of the tent." Already the rumbling was growing louder.

"Yeah. Probably a good idea." The two crawled out and sat on the ground, waiting for the quake to pass. Suddenly, large dark shapes emerged from the distant treeline, only discernible in the darkness because of their massive shape. They seemed to be zeroing in on the opposite side of the clearing but stopped short almost simultaneously. After a short beat, they growled loudly in unison and turned to face Daniel and the Colonel's direction. Immediately, the two knew they were in trouble, if they hadn't known as soon as they first saw the animals.

The pair tried to sink into the natural camouflage of the trees, even though they hoped that the darkness would be good enough of cover on its own. Quietly, they moved backwards, unsure if the beasts had an acute sense of hearing, sight, or even smell. The Colonel deduced that they probably had some sort of heightened sense if they roamed in this dark of night. When there were several feet of trees between the edge of the clearing and themselves, the two relaxed ever so slightly.

Jack leaned against a tree, still listening hard for any more sound from the animals. As his back pressed against the odd bark, though, he felt some sort of grown in lever at the base of the trunk. Against his better judgement, he pressed down on it, and somehow, he and Daniel went up.


	4. Stuck

Here's chapter three! Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Stuck

0o0o0o0o0

It hadn't taken Teal'c long to go back to the SGC after the rest of the team had disappeared. General Hammond, after hearing what had happened, quickly sent the Jaffa back with a six-man scientific team and Sg-7, who had gone to the planet before Sg-1. Currently, he was walking back towards the building with an eager little balding man on his tail.

"So, just for clarification, Mr. Teal'c, they, the rest of Sg-1, I mean. They just...," the slightly overweight scientist next to Teal'c paused to push his round glasses up his nose. "Vanished? No poof, or lights, or anything...?" Teal'c just breathed menacingly and walked faster. This went unnoticed by the curious interrogator, who merely matched the new pace, although panting a bit. " Um, Mr. Teal'c?"

With a curt sideways nod, the alien gave in. "No. As I have stated several times before, there was no sign of their leaving."

"But they touched the device."

A small but intimidating groan escaped from Teal'c's throat. "Yes."

"And you noticed nothing else?"

"No. I did not."

"Have you seen anything...similar to this before?" By now, he was struggling to keep up and panting hard.

"No."

"But-"

Suddenly, the ruin came into view and silently, the Jaffa thanked whichever gods where listening. Needlessly, he spoke. "We have arrived." And then, the former First Prime of the notorious Apophis, the very same man who stared whole armies down and won, who made grown warriors tremble with a single thought, ran from a stout, unarmed, middle-aged scientist.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Falling upwards was a new sensation for Daniel, and he wasn't sure he liked it a whole lot. Idly, he wondered where he would land, or stop, or...whatever. But he didn't need to ponder for very long, because suddenly the world turned on it's end and a nest of very hard leaves stopped his fall. Looking upwards, he was slightly surprised to see the forest floor. Creasing his eyebrows, he turned his head to see the Colonel sitting up. "Jack? What was that?"

O'Neill groaned and rolled his neck. "Two words. Ba'al's gravity bender."

"Umm, Jack, that's three words."

The Colonel shrugged. "So I wasn't great at geometry, what 'cha gonna do?"

Daniel dragged a hand over his face and a long-suffering sigh escaped his lips. Deciding to do something productive, he took stock of their position. They seemed to be in a large upside-down nest (although it felt right side up); it was probably ten feet by thirty and seven or so high. Giant leaves stuck up all over the place, and Jackson hoped the owner of the nest wasn't behind one of them.

A voice drifted from Daniel's left. "Wonder what lives _here_." Daniel smirked. He wasn't the only one checking the surroundings.

"I'm hoping its not one of those giant things we saw earlier."

"How would they press the little lever thingy?"

Jackson paused, then slowly looked over at the Colonel. "_What _little 'lever thingy'?"

Jack pursed his lips guiltily. '' Um...I kind of...saw this little lever thing. " He tried to model it with his hands, "It was in the tree, you see."

"In the tree? You don't say?" Daniel crossed his arms over his chest, knowing exactly where this was going.

"Yeah, I uh, just pushed down on it. A little."

An incredulous snort escaped Daniel's mouth. "_You_ touched something? _You?_ Mr. Don't-touch? Mr. Leave-that-thing-alone-cause-I_-ordered_-you? Mr. NO-tocar?"

Because the Colonel knew he was right, he only offered a pathetic, "Hey," in response.

"You know, Sam's gonna love this."

Jack groaned. "Oh, come on, don't tell Carter. Please?"

"Nope, too late. Should have thought about that before you _touched something._" Daniel's eyes lit up with satisfaction, like he'd wanted to say that for a very long time.

"Look, mister, I touched _one thing. _If you hadn't touched the Ancient transporter, we wouldn't even be on this _planet_, so don't go lecturing me on not. Touching. Things."

Then when Daniel just glowered, Jack returned to his earlier question with a bit of victory tinging his words, "So. How'd they press it?"

Daniel crossed his arms protectively over his chest. "Who knows, Jack? They could be very intelligent. Possibly even sentient...we don't know enough to make any assumptions just yet."

Jack tilted his head towards the linguist. "They _growled_."

"That doesn't mean anything, neccessarly."

"Yes it does."

"No it doesn't."

"Yes, it does."

"No. It _doesn't._"

"Yes. It _does._''

Jackson squinted as if in pain. Which he probably was. "No, Jack, it really doesn't."

"Yes, Daniel, it really does."

"_Jack_."

"Yes, oh wonderful friend of mine?"

"Won't be calling me that much longer if you don't _shut up, Jack_."

That gave the Colonel pause. But not for long. "Haha. You said 'shut up'. You only say that when your really mad."

"Well, I kinda am."

O'Neill grew silent again, the need to poke fun dwindling but still present. "It'll be really cliche if the mommy comes back and kills us for tresspassing, then feeds us to her little giant babies." The Colonel made big chomping motions with his hands, then looking at an irritated Daniel, pointed a claw at him. "Grrr to you, too, mister."

Suddenly, leaves crinkled to the right of Daniel, and the pair froze. Jack muttered a 'seriously?' under his breath.

"You will remain still, and tell us while you have entered the Safe Haven without permission." Behind a leaf stepped out a decently young man holding what could only be described as a lazer gun. His clothes looked like at one time, they were high end stuff, but now were dirty and worn. He was olive-skinned and had dark hair and eyes.

The Colonel scoffed lightly. "That what you call this place? Doesn't feel very 'safe' right now..." He made little quotation marks in the air.

Daniel, on the other hand, creased his eyebrows. "Wait. Safe from what? The giant things?"

The man lowered his chin, in a sort of sudden, reluctant understanding. He still held the gun at ready, but pointed it a little more downwards. "You are new to Hak'terra." It wasn't a question. "The 'giant things' are known here as Seturs, and you are safe from them here. However, we do not have resources for two more mouths to feed. You will leave."

"I don't _think_ so! Have you seen those things?"

The gunman squared his shoulders. "Fine then. If you stay, you will stay as prisoners." He motioned with his head and four other similarly dressed men appeared from behind the leaves. Quickly, Jack and Daniel were restrained and pulled into a standing position. Neither of them really spoke while they were taken to another lever and thrown sideways to another nest. This one seemed even bigger and had a large dining table down the middle, occupied by around thirty people. On the other side of the table the pair were thrown into a Setur-sized cage.

One of the aliens peered through the cage. "You have defyed the Leader. So you will stay _here_."

After he walked away, Daniel sighed. "Smooth Jack. Real smooth."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam Carter wondered almost casually if she would ever stop falling. Hopefully, _something_ would stop her fall, preferably before she covered too long a distance to survive, and preferably, the landing would be soft and cushy.

When her back connected with a sloping ground, she rolled with it for a couple feet before she stumbled to a halt on a level plane. Brushing her pants off, Sam mentally checked for any injuries, and besides a slightly sore tailbone, she didn't find any.

Carter stood up and looked around. She smirked when she realized she had only fallen ten or so feet; she could have done so much worse. Sam seemed to be in a sort of underground cave, with two hallways shooting off from the left side of the room. When she wanted out, climbing up that slope was going to be trouble. However, being the ever curious scientist, she wanted to explore first.

Suddenly, a loud growling sound came through the whole at the top of the cave. Sam plastered herself against the side of the cave in the shadows so as not to be seen by whatever was on top. Or whoever. But it sounded like a lot of very large somethings that Sam really didn't want to come in contact with.

When the sounds died down, Carter edged herself away from the wall and down one of the corridors. On instinct, Sam grabbed her handgun from its holster and pulled it to ready position. Slowly, she made her way down the small hallway until it opened to another large cave.

However, this cave was different from the first one; its sides were not as smooth. In fact, there were large chunks of an odd colored rock jutting out on every side of the cave, and on some parts of the ceiling as well. Judging by a tingling feeling on the back of Sam's neck, the rocks were raw naquadah. A lot of raw naqaudah.

Carter went up to touch one, and noted the unique chalky texture of the valuble mineral, which only confirmed what she already knew. At that though, Sam huffed. The presence of the naquadah meant she couldn't stay here very long without risking being poisoned by it. However, she couldn't safely go back to the surface without running into the large animals that she heard growl earlier; for all Carter knew, they could still be up there. The best thing she knew to do was go back to the original room she fell in and try to see if the animals were still there.

Back in the first cave, she tried to peer out the hole, but didn't really succeed. That worried her more about getting out of here, but Carter didn't let herself think about it at the moment. Settling for listening, she strained to hear for any signs of the things that she had heard earlier. Sam didn't.

Hopefully that meant that they, whatever they were, had left. Which left only one question; how was she going to get out of here?

0o0o0o0o0

TBC!


	5. Waiting

Okay, here's chapter four! A little bit of action in this one, hope you like it!

Chapter 4: Waiting

"I really wish I had a tin cup right now." Jack, still in the large cage with Daniel, sighed dramatically.

Daniel decided to take the bait. "Why, Jack?"

The Colonel turned with a with a 'well isn't it obvious?' look on his face. "So I can run it against the bars. Duh." At Daniel's unimpressed look, he made a back and forth motion with his hands, then huffed. "Well, fine, be that way."

"I think I will, thank you, " Daniel paused. "We need to do something, Jack. Sam's still out there with the saturs."

"Don't remind me." Looking around, the Colonel went to the door of their cell. Fingering the lock, he pulled on it for the umpteenth time that day. Unsurprisingly, it didn't give at all, and O'Neill turned back to face his friend. "What can we do, Daniel? No one's come through this way for hours."

"Well, there must be something we can do."

Jack went to sit next to the doctor. "I guess we have to wait for Carter or for one of those dudes to come back."

Jackson raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, speaking of that, have you seen any women or children around here?"

"No, actually, I haven't. Wonder why that is?"

"I dunno. This place seems to be a system of nests, or whatever they call these things, maybe only men are allowed in this one."

The Colonel shrugged. "Maybe. " Then he smiled. "Bet Carter would have a fit."

Daniel laughed at that. "Yeah, she probably would."

Suddenly, at the other end of the field, a tall man appeared. As he walked closer, it became obvious that he was closer to boy's age a than man; probably barely fifteen. The sandy-haired alien crouched in front of the cage door and spoke quietly, "You should have left when you were given the chance."

Jackson walked over to their visitor, eager at the chance of conversing with a new culture, even if it was captor to captured. "I'm Daniel, and this is Jack. What's your name?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "It is impolite to ask someone their title apon meeting them. Are you not aware of that?"

Quickly, Daniel apologized and waited for the other man to speak.

He brushed it off, however his harsh demeanor let up little. "The Leader has decided your punishment for defying him, and for staying unwelcomed."

The Colonel jumped in. "And?"

"And, so not to drain on our resources, you will be given another chance to take your leave in five sunrises. Until then, you should not expect food or drink from anyone."

Jack crossed his arms over his chest. "What if we don't leave?"

Jackson tried to tell his friend not to be difficult, but the alien spoke first. "Then you should not live to stay." And then, the man left.

The doctor's forehead creased only a few moments after he had gone and Jack sighed. "What, now, Daniel?"

"That's a pretty unique culture characteristic, that asking someone's name is impolite..."

"Only you would ignore something like being told you can't eat for five days, because someone got mad you asked their name."

He looked over at Jack pointedly. "I currently only know of one race that does that. " He paused. "The Ancients, Jack."

0o0oo0o0o0

It had been several hours and little progress had been made on the transport device. The science team had, at least, figured out that wires could touch it without it making people disappear, but they hadn't a clue to the technology. Ironically, the first person that could have cracked the insane equations coming from the machine was it's first victim, and she was sorely missed.

Teal'c, for one, was quickly becoming highly agitated. He knew that the team were doing the best they could, but he also knew that if O'Neill were here, he'd be throwing a fit at their lack of speed. Finally, deciding that something must be done, he walked from outside the small building, in to see the supervising doctor.

Currently, the man in charge was staring at a screen, mumbling incoherently to himself with a deeply creased forehead. Remembering his name, Teal'c spoke. "Doctor McMullins, have you any progress to report?"

Looking up, the scientist seemed startled for an instant, then regained his composure. "Tea'c. I didn't see you there."

The Jaffa noticed easily that he was trying to sidestep the question. "Is there no progress?"

"Well there is, but, it isn't great." The man called McMullins crossed his arms over his slim chest. "See, all the evidence points towards this being a one-way machine. Like an incoming or outgoing wormhole. You just can't go the other way."

The Jaffa's eyes narrowed. "That is not satisfactory, Doctor McMullins."

"I'm working on it."

"Work harder."

The scientist nodded quickly. "Yes, sir, don't worry. I'll bring them back. We will." And then, obviously sensing the conversation was over, the Doctor turned back to his work.

Turning silently on his heels, Teal'c left in search of Sg-5.

The team was checking out the ruins yet again for something that might help. Although nothing had been found as of yet, they still hadn't given up.

When the the treeline came into view, he slowed. Scouting out the CO of Sg-7, Major Figgins, he saw him outside of the third house to the left of the temple.

Figgins turned when he heard the remaining Sg-1 member approach. Nodding, he called out to him. "Teal'c, I'm glad you came, there's something in the temple I want you to see."

Wordlessly, the Jaffa followed. Inside the temple were the other members of Sg-7, their archeologist fingering the very same writing that Daniel Jackson had been not twenty-four hours before.

"Are you aware of that translation?" Not knowing the scientist's title, Teal'c settled on, "Doctor?"

Facing the former First Prime, the man shook his head. "I speak eighteen different languages, but I have yet to be fluent in Ancient. All I know is that this writing is very similar to the writing on the ruin housing the transport device."

Teal'c nodded. "It is indeed." Walking over, he lifted a hand to the wall and pointed at different sections as he spoke. "Daniel Jackson believed this to read 'risk', this 'come forth' and this, most curiously, 'out where the demons are'."

The linguist creased his forehead. "No, that can't be right, the Ancients were a passi-"

"Daniel Jackson said the same when he translated this wall as well."

Suddenly, Figgins, who was leaning on the altar, slipped. He instinctively tried to find purchase on it, and caught on the branches that made up the base. They came off in his hands as his behind hit the floor, not to reveal more wood, but cold metal. Looking up, the Major smirked knowingly. "Wonder what this could be?"

0o0o0o0o0

Sam was already feeling the effects of the naquadah. She had stayed as far away from it as possible, but there was an insane amount, far more than the SGC, or any Goa'uld, most likely, had ever run across before. Carter had tried getting out, but the hole where she had fallen was several feet above her, and even with a clear head, the Major couldn't reach it.

So she had taken to wandering the mineral laden hallways aimlessly, her thoughts becoming more and more muddled as she went on. She thought of the rest of Sg-1, hoping that they were safe from this world and had had the wherewithal to go back to the SGC and get help before they followed. She thought of the Ancient ruins, trying to find the connection between the odd inscriptions and the device.

Sam also wondered why this amount of naquadah was left un-mined. Wouldn't someone have found it by now? She almost wished that they had; it was giving her a major headache.

Then, out of the blue, Carter felt a breeze. Walking into it, the draft became stronger and a light appeared. The ground started slanting upwards, and soon she was out in the twilight. _How long was I in there?_ She wondered.

But Sam didn't have the time to think about it for to long, because behind her she heard a very loud growl.

Turning, she saw three extremely large, hairy, beasts; all looked very angry. And although her head was clearing quickly, she still didn't welcome the idea of outsmarting the animals.

Crouching down low to the ground, Carter hoped that she hadn't been spotted. It seemed that she waited for an eternity, but yet the three didn't move. They just snorted and growled, and occasionally-

The biggest froze. Baring its teeth at Sam, it roared. And ran straight for her.

Carter didn't wait to see if the other two followed. She just sprinted as fast as her wobbly legs could carry her. Sounds whirled around her; roaring, large trampling feet, the ocassional breaking twigs beneath her, and strangely, loudest was her own sharp breaths hissing between her teeth.

They followed her for so long, that Sam started becoming light-headed, and the muddled feeling returned in force.

The ground blended with the sky and rainbow colored trees swirled around her. She hadn't realized that she had run into the forest.

The growling behind her grew ever louder, and soon it wasn't just twigs snapping, but huge branches and a few trunks here and there. Sam ran ever faster.

The beasts had yet to grow tired, but cold sweat poured down Carter's back, soaking her clothes and dripping into the soles of her shoes. Deep, ripping gasps tugged at Sam's lungs, making her sides burn hot.

Somehow, survival instincts crashed through the thick barriers of semi-lucidity. Quickly, she tried evasion tactics, zooming left and right, never running once in a straight line. Desperately, she tried to lose her attackers, looking and praying for a way out of the mess she had so completely tangled herself in.

But, it seemed, no gods at all were listening to her pleas, and maybe, that good ole' Sg-1 luck had finally seen the ends of its days.

Maybe this was the end of her days.

Sam slowed, just a little bit, but enough that the enemy gained precious inches. That was enough to spur Carter on again, for a while. But it wouldn't be enough. They were still coming, steadily gaining ground. She wondered how she could still be upright.

She no longer could hear wood snapping, or growling, just blood pounding at top decibels in her ears. Her feet had grown numb to the forest floor beneath her, to the slopes and rises of the earth. Detached, her mind wandered near incoherently, but the mantra of _run away, Sam, run away_ echoed loudly between Carter's red ears.

And then, time stopped, and twilight turned to a deeply dark, starless night sky. Rough ground was suddenly a soft pillow, and Sam had no objections to sleep.

0o0o0o0o

tbc! Please review!


	6. Findings

Here's the next chapter! Enjoy! Thanks to those who have reviewed, and to those that haven't; please do!

Chapter 5: Findings

Delnay and his band of men walked stealthily through familiar forest. They currently were scouting the area below their Haven like they did every other night, to check their Setur traps. Usually they were not very successful in this area in capturing them, but every now and then they indeed did manage to trap the beasts. They did this for two reasons; one because their eventual goal was to rid the world of Seturs, and two because they didn't want them near the Haven's entrances.

While searching, Delnay thought of the strangers who had trespassed into his refuge. It had been so very many generations since humans had come in askance of shelter. However, their home has grown, exponentially of late. Children are being born more often, and what had once been just a place to be safe so long ago, has become a fully-equipped village system. Point being, Delnay was afraid to let anyone else sap their resources.

But they were odd tresspassers, to say the least. The older of the two seemed extremely...abrasive, while his companion was very opposite. Also, the grey-haired one seemed to carrthe air of a warrior, and the younger did not seem to nearly as much. Would not, normally, a younger man be more prone to the life of a soldier than one in the middle years of his life? The two brought up many questions, to be sure.

Delnay was broken from his thoughts when one of his men called his name. Walking over to him, expecting to find a Setur caught in a trap, he asked, "Is the beast dead, Neltu?" Then, coming from behind the tree that had previously obstructed his full view, he saw it was not a Setur caught in the trap.

It was far from an animal; it was a human female. Bending down, he rested his hand on her chest. A steady heart beat strummed against his hand and Delnay was surprised. "She survives."

Neltu, the other man, walked to the female's feet. "There seems to be no outward injuries, however her jacket seems to have caught on the trap."

"She is lucky, " Delnay responded as he unhooked her clothing from the metal, "That these traps are not sensitive to anything as small as a human. If it were, she would be dead."

"Should we bring it back to the Haven?"

The leader nodded. "Yes, she clearly is in need of medical treatment." Then he smirked, "Plus, a female would not be able to survive out here on her own. We would be immoral not to take her in."

Neltu just nodded as he picked her up, and the two walked back to the nearest lever entrance.

0o0o0o0o0

It had been several hours since Jack and Daniel had been told that they weren't going to be given food, and for one, the Colonel was starving. And he was grumpy when hungry. "I want food."

Jackson groaned. "Yes, Jack, you've said that already. A lot."

"But I'm _really _hungry."

"So am I." The retort was short.

"Tell them we need food."

"How am I supposed to do that, exactly? We haven't seen another person for hours."

Jack crossed his arms over his chest, not in the mood to be reasonable. "I dunno. You're smart; figure it out."

At that, Daniel dragged a hand over his face and pleaded silently to the sky that Sam would come and rescue him.

Them. He meant them.

"I'm thirsty."

Nope. He meant 'him'.

"Like _really_ thirsty. Tell them we need something to drink."

Looking wordlessly over to his friend, Daniel stood up and walked over to the far side of the cage. "No, Jack, you tell them. I'm taking a nap." Then he promptly laid down and closed his eyes.

O'Neill huffed and crawled to the front of the cage. Looking over, he spotted the lever and willed it to move. Miraculously, it did.

Several people appeared holding large dishes of food. Jack's mouth watered. The aliens turned to the large table in the middle of the room and started situating the bowls and plates on top of it carefully. After a moment, the Colonel made to go over and wake Daniel. "Wake up! There's food!"

The linguist didn't open his eyes, but groaned. "Leave me alone, Jack."

"I'm serious! I think they're getting ready for a feast or something, like they were when we came."

Finally, Jackson sat up and looked over to where the Colonel motioned. "Huh. Guess so." Standing up, he walked over to the edge of the cage with his cell mate.

Then, when more people came, Jack yelled through the bars, "Hey! Can we get some of that?"

Daniel rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. He noticed that it was still only men and boys that were present, but that didn't surprise him a whole lot. Jackson also noted that no one paid any attention to the two aliens yelling in the cell.

Jackson sat back and crossed his arms. "Maybe we'll get leftovers."

"How can you be so...nonchalant? They have _food!"_

Daniel laughed. "Nonchalant?" When Jack just blinked, he cleared his throat. "Just relax. We'll be fine."

The Colonel just grumbled and eyed the now fairly large crowd sitting at the dining table. They ate and talked for about an hour before people started leaving and cleaning off the table.

Suddenly, Jack sat up. "Hey! Look!" Coming their way was a small boy of about eight with a sandwich in his hand. He knelt in front of the cage and pushed the food between the bars.

"Here, "he whispered.

O'Neill nodded and smiled gently at the boy. "Thank you." The little alien stood up and ran back to the mass of people still surrounding the table.

Daniel sat back, watching the little boy disappear unnoticed into the crowd. "Huh. That was nice."

Jack turned around to face the linguist. He had already taken a bite out of the sandwich so that the sides of his mouth puffed out and his eyes were round. Jackson laughed when the thought came to mind that he looked like a grey-haired chipmunk.

"Wha'?" The Colonel said around his mouthful, and then looking down at the meal in his hand, thrusting it forward. "Wan' some?"

Daniel took it and smiled silently, glad that he wouldn't have to put up with his griping for a while.

0o0o0o0o0

When Sam woke, it was to very unfamiliar surroundings. She seemed to be on a bed in a small dark room. It had a couple windows, a table and chair in the corner, and a door that Carter assumed to lead outside. Sitting up, she mentally checked herself over for injuries, but found none. She looked over to the small table and found food and a bowl of water sitting on top, and Sam realised she was starving. She walked over, plopping down in the chair and took a bite of the small loaf of bread. And then, Carter finally had the wherewithal to wonder where she was.

She certainly wasn't in the forest anymore, but Sam didn't think there was sentient life on this planet. She didn't think she was being held captive, because the room looked more like someone's house than a cell. And she could easily break out of the windows if needed.

That meant, hopefully, that the people herre were friendly. And as Sam took another bite of the bread, she hoped that they had a way to get her home.

The sound of a knob turning brought Sam out of her thoughts and she turned towards the opening wooden door. A young woman walked in, holding another bowl of water. She was dressed in a soft yellow gown and had dark brunette curls that reached past her shoulders. The woman put the bowl down and looked at Carter. "Good day. It seems you are up and about. Are you feeling well?"

Sam nodded politely. "Yes, thank you. But I didn't think this planet was inhabited."

"My people live here, in the Safe Haven." The woman sat on the edge of the bed and turned to face the Major. "You are welcome here."

"Is there someone I can speak to about getting home? A leader, maybe? See, I touched this device and it brought me here and I was hoping that someone here might know how to get me home."

The other woman grimaced. "I will try, although Delnay is very busy."

"Thank you. And I'm Sam, by the way."

"It is very nice to make your acquaintance, Sam." Then, she stood and made for the door. Turning back, she smiled at Carter, and left.

The Major didn't move from her spot, but wondered if she was allowed to leave and look around. She stood up and decided that a little exploring never hurt anyone. Especially if she was back before anybody noticed.

0o0o0o0o0

tbc! please review!


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